If you’re familiar with Warhammer Age of Sigmar then you’ll probably know that in the game at least, the various armies are grouped loosely into four Grand Alliances – Chaos, Death, Destruction and Order – each containing a range of different factions and races, not all of which always see eye to eye. Recently I got to wondering about how this concept is represented in Black Library fiction, and whether I could think of one standout book for each Grand Alliance – one thing led to another, and the end result is this article. I’ve picked out four Age of Sigmar books that I’ve really enjoyed, and I’ll talk a bit about why each one is – in my opinion – the best place to start (so far) with its Grand Alliance.
First of all, I should point out that I’m not trying to say any of these books are the definitive stories for their Grand Alliances, or that they represent the full scope of the factions in each grouping. There’s no way any one novel is ever going to be able to do that, as there’s just far too much variety in each of the Grand Alliances (especially Order). Instead, I’ve chosen these books partly because they’re just fantastic stories that I’ll happily recommend to anyone, and partly because I think they introduce the reader to characters, ideas or themes that help to provide a broad sense of what you can expect from each Grand Alliance.
Of course the usual caveats apply, that these choices are only representative of my personal opinion, and that they’re based on what I’ve read so far. I would say that I’ve read a decent proportion of BL’s Age of Sigmar range, but not every single story (although I’m working on it). Also, I’ve only included novels here – not novellas, short stories or audio dramas. That’s largely so that I could cut down on the potential pool of stories to think about, but also because I think novels are best suited to giving an overview of each Grand Alliance.
Chaos
The many and varied forces of Chaos, and the gods that they follow – Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch – are often depicted as antagonists in Warhammer fiction, but there were also some classic Chaos protagonists back in the days of the Old World – Valkia, Wulfrik, Sigvald and so on. While Black Library’s Age of Sigmar range perhaps hasn’t yet seen an anti-hero rise to equal any of those classic names (Archaon doesn’t count because A. he’s not had any AoS books of his own and B. he’s basically now a god), there have nevertheless been some great Chaos-focused books. Robbie MacNiven’s Scourge of Fate offers a look at life in the Varanguard, while Gav Thorpe’s The Red Feast explores the path to Chaos for one man long before the Age of Sigmar began.
Between them those two novels manage to show a little bit of what life is like for the mortal(ish) followers of Chaos, which in my opinion is the most interesting way of exploring this Grand Alliance – I’m more interested in regular people rather than daemons and the like. In the same vein, my personal favourite depiction of Chaos so far, however, comes in the form of…
Blood of the Everchosen by Richard Strachan
I’m a big fan of Richard’s writing – I’ve enjoyed all of his Black Library work to date – but I was particularly impressed by this novel and the way it tells a thrilling adventure story while exploring the day to day realities of life for the mortal followers of Chaos. It’s labelled as a Warcry: Catacombs story, but while that’s technically true – most of the characters belong to warbands from either the Scions of the Flame, the Untamed Beasts or the Splintered Fang – I would say it’s a bit misleading, because it implies that this is a direct tie-in to the game. It’s set in the Eightpoints, sure, and features characters from Warcry warbands, but really it’s just a great Warhammer story – especially for Chaos fans.
It’s as action-packed as you might want, but it’s also brilliantly character-driven, with the various viewpoint characters all offering different but equally interesting perspectives on the search for glory in the eyes of Archaon. These aren’t necessarily likeable characters, but they’re relatable and entertaining to read about, while Strachan’s evocative prose makes the whole thing an absolute pleasure to read. It’s one of those books that I would recommend to anyone interested in Age of Sigmar, whether you’re particularly interested in Chaos or just want a really strong introduction to the setting….but in particular it does serve as a reminder of how great Chaos stories can be when told from mortal perspectives.
Check out my review of Blood of the Everchosen and an interview about it with Richard Strachan.
Death
As with Chaos, the Old World had all manner of fantastic undead protagonists, some of whom have transitioned over to Age of Sigmar – Mannfred von Carstein, Neferata, Arkhan the Black, and obviously the Great Necromancer/god of the dead himself, Nagash. Neferata is the only one of these much-loved (well, perhaps loved is a strong word) characters to get her own AoS series, while others have appeared as secondary characters and/or antagonists, alongside new names and (fleshless) faces. My first instinct was to look at Josh Reynolds’ Soul Wars for the Death choice, as it has some fantastic Nighthaunt action in it…but it’s more of a Stormcast book overall, I think.
Instead, I’m going to cheat a little bit (after all, Nagash isn’t above a little cheating now and then) by choosing a book which bundles together a pair of short novels (which were released as Limited Edition hardbacks and then standard hardbacks, and are also available as individual ebooks…but this is the best way to get hold of them now). One of these reintroduces a famous name into Age of Sigmar, while the other offers an unexpected look at what life is like for the mortal worshippers of Nagash…
Rulers of the Dead by David Annandale and Josh Reynolds
David Annandale’s Neferata: Mortarch of Blood follows on from CL Werner’s Lord of Undeath (the final volume of the Realmgate Wars series), but it should work fine as a standalone story in its own right. The plot revolves around Neferata defending her city, Nulahmia (slightly on the nose for those of us who remember Lahmia in the Old World), from an invading Chaos army, but really it’s a story about the lengths that Neferata is prepared to go to in order to maintain her power, and about the ways in which the (largely mortal) citizens of her domain see and interact with her. There’s lots of politics and sneaky manipulation, and smatterings of the gothic horror you might expect from Annandale, and I’d say this is ideal if you like your undead to be of the vampiric nature.
Josh Reynolds’ Nagash: The Undying King, meanwhile, features both Neferata and Arkhan the Black (not to mention Nagash himself), but is told from the perspectives of a human necromancer trying to protect her Nagash-worshipping tribe, and a disease-ridden yet strangely honourable knight belonging to the Order of the Fly. In simple terms it’s the mortal followers of Nagash battling Nurgle invaders in Shyish during the Age of Chaos, but in amongst all the action there’s loads of fascinating insight into what everyday life is like for mortals living in Shyish, and a little bit of what Nagash’s mindset was like at this point in the history of the Mortal Realms. I would probably say that this is still the most in-depth look at Shyish and the most relatable aspects of the Death faction…and it’s also just a lot of fun.
Check out my review of Neferata: Mortarch of Blood and an interview about it with David Annandale.
Check out my review of Nagash: The Undying King and an interview about it with Josh Reynolds.
Destruction
The Destruction Grand Alliance groups together all of what I used to think of as ‘Orcs and Goblins’ in old-school Warhammer terms (including my personal favourites, squigs) along with Ogors (ogres, as was) and the (big) new kids on the block, the Sons of Behemat – Gargants, or giants. Black Library has a long history of shying away from stories written from greenskin perspectives, and I can’t think of anything longer than a short story written from an ogre/ogor POV, but in relatively recent times I’ve read and loved a couple of excellent Age of Sigmar short stories with grots (goblins) as protagonists. If you’re interested, I would definitely recommend Eric Gregory’s Bossgrot in particular.
When deciding which novel to choose for this article then, I had to settle for something with Destruction characters or factions as antagonists. Hopefully one day we’ll see a greenskin/ogre POV novel…one day. I did briefly consider Josh Reynolds’ Fury of Gork, which might still be my favourite novel in the Realmgate Wars series, but while the Ironjawz in that book are a lot of fun, I feel like it’s still more of a Stormcast novel. I say ‘briefly consider’, because really there was only one option for this faction…
Gloomspite by Andy Clark
One of my absolute favourite Black Library novels of the last few years, Gloomspite is really the only possible choice for this article. It may not have any greenskin points of view, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever read for illustrating the sheer, chaotic (small c) madness and horror of dealing with an unstoppable horde of vicious, spiteful little monsters. It also has lots of squigs in it, which can only be a good thing! It’s told from the perspective of a band of human mercenaries who try to bring a warning to the city of Draconium, only to be trapped within its walls when the Bad Moon rises. The focus of this article is on the greenskins, sure, but I can’t talk about Gloomspite without mentioning how good the human characters are, and also Clark’s brutal willingness to put them through absolute hell.
You might think that a story about (or at least heavily featuring) grots – goblins – isn’t really representative of the Destruction Grand Alliance as a whole, but to me the thing that really stands out about the various factions within this grouping is the idea of them being like a force of nature. They’re utterly destructive but not evil in the sense of Chaos or Death, and there’s a fascinating tension between their inherent humour and their utter brutality. All of that comes across in Gloomspite, which offers a valuable reminder that while they might be small, grots can be particularly horrible – especially when you factor in all of their mushroom-related, shudder-inducing, look-away-if-you’re-squeamish unpleasantness. Seriously, just read this book!
Check out my review of Gloomspite.
Order
Out of the four Grand Alliances I found this one the hardest to choose one novel to represent, and that’s largely because it’s such a diverse group of factions and characters. Also, most of the Order factions – Stormcast, Cities of Sigmar, the various aelves and duardin – tend to be pretty relatable, so they’ve ended up with the lion’s share of the stories thus far. A few possibilities that came to mind were David Guymer’s Court of the Blind King for the Idoneth Deepkin, CL Werner’s fantastic Kharadron Overlords novels (Overlords of the Iron Dragon and Profit’s Ruin), or perhaps even Gotrek Gurnisson in his various stories to date (Ghoulslayer, for example). All of these are excellent, but didn’t feel quite right. Likewise aelf-focused books such as Covens of Blood or Realm-Lords, which I haven’t read yet so can’t really talk about.
In terms of human (or nearly human) perspectives there are plenty to choose from too – Nick Horth’s City of Secrets and The Silver Shard, Josh Reynolds’ Spear of Shadows are all fantastic, for example. I decided in the end, however, that while it’s perhaps a bit of a cliché the best bet would probably be a Stormcast Eternal story – they’re the paragons of Order, they get to interact with lots of other factions and races, and while they perhaps aren’t quite human any more, they can still make great protagonists. If you wanted a straight-up heroic Stormcast story then I’d suggest Josh Reynolds’ Plague Garden, however for sheer fun factor, for providing probably my favourite AoS character and for offering a wry, sideways glance at the Mortal Realms, it has to be…
Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods by David Guymer
Ever since I read Champion of the Gods back in 2019 I’ve made no bones about how much I love the character of Hamilcar – among a host of largely dour Stormcast characters he’s a total breath of fresh air, with a strong voice and a real sense of identity. Having first appeared in various shorter stories, this is his first (and so far, astonishingly, only) full novel, and it sees the titular Lord-Castellant in Ghur, pitting his strength and wits against the skaven hordes led by a devious warlock engineer. Unlike other Stormcast-centric stories, however, it’s more of a solo adventure than a grand, sweeping army story, and it takes a look at some of the key Stormcast themes through a much more light-hearted, humorous lens than most.
I say humorous, because this story genuinely is funny. Hamilcar is brash, loud, deeply immodest and very much fond of his own voice, so his first-person perspective is a total joy to read. There’s more to it than just jokes though, as his viewpoint gives us a sort of sidelong glance at Age of Sigmar and the Mortal Realms, full of interesting and surprisingly honest, human observations of wherever he goes and whoever he encounters. It’s a gleeful reminder that Age of Sigmar can be fun, but it’s not silly – the humour works in context of the story, and it really is a good story in its own right. Sure, it’s not going to offer a whole lot of insight into the Idoneth, Lumineth, Fyreslayers or Seraphon, but as an entry point to the forces of Order I can’t think of anything more entertaining than this!
Check out my review of Hamilcar: Champion of the Gods and an interview about it with David Guymer.
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So there you go – four great Age of Sigmar books that I can wholeheartedly recommend as excellent stories, and which I think would do a pretty good job of introducing you to some of the key players in each of the Grand Alliances. As I said earlier, these are just my personal choices – but I’m pretty sure that most Age of Sigmar readers would enjoy them! If you’re after some suggestions on where to start with Age of Sigmar, you could do a lot worse than checking out some or all of these books! If you haven’t already, do take a look at my reviews of these stories, and give them a go – you can always check out the samples on the Black Library website if you want to try before you buy.
Have you read some or all of these stories? Do you have a favourite, or any suggestions of your own for great Age of Sigmar stories to represent each of the Grand Alliances? Let me know in the comments below, or over on Twitter.
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